Nicolae Ceausescu was born on January 26, 1918 in Scornicesti (Olt district), Romania. He was the president of Communist Romania from 1965 till the fall of the communist regime in December 17-22, 1989 shortly before his execution.

Biography and Career :

He was born in a peasant family. When he was 11 years old he leaved to Bucharest where he got a job as shoe apprentice.

In 1932 he became member of the Romanian Communist Party (at that time this party was illegal). In 1933 he was arrested for the first time because he was member of a communist riot. In 1934 three more arrests followed- because of collecting signatures for the release of some workers accused of communist activity. In 1936 he was arrested again, this time being sent two years to prison in Doftana Jail.

He

meets Elena Patrescu in 1939 with who she marries in 1945. She will have an increasing influence over his political career. He is arrested and convicted again, being sent to jail in 1940 and transferred in 1943 at Targu Jiu prison. His cell companion was Gheorghe Gheorghiu- Dej. He will become Ceausescu's protector. After the Second World War, in 1944, Ceausescu is named UTC's secretary (the Union of the Communist Youth).

After the communists monopolized the power in 1947, Ceausescu became Agriculture's minister and after that he was named Army's second-minister in Gheorghe Gheorghiu- Dej's regime. In 1952 he became member of the Central Committee of the Romanian Worker's Party (PMR) and in 1954- a full member of PMR's Political Bureau.

Three days after Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej's death, in March 1965, Ceausescu takes over the PMR's general secretary function. One of his first actions was that of to rename PMR into the Romanian Communist Party (PCR). In the same time he changes the Popular Republic Romania name into the Socialist Romania Republic.

In 1967 he became president of the State Council and in 1974 he named himself president of Romania. Starting with the 70's, Ceausescu became the object of a pervasive personality cult, unheard of before in Europe since Stalin's death. He was called "the great leader" or "Carpatians genius" and his wife who was a semi-illiterate called herself "world's scientist" and "loving mother of the nation".

Under Ceausescu, Romania was Europe's fourth biggest exporter of weapons. Ceausescu was able to borrow a great deal of money (more than $13 billion) from the West to finance economic development programs. These loans ultimately devastated the country's financial situation. Ceausescu decided to eradicate Romania's foreign debts. So, in order to correct this situation, he ordered the export of much of the country's agricultural and industrial production, this action leading to a decrease of the living standard from 1980 till 1989.

In 1989 Ceausescu was ignoring the disastrously situation in which the county was in. So, after years of hunger and sufferings, in December 1989 the revolution burst out in Timisoara and after that in Bucharest. The revolution culminated with the fall of Ceausescu's regime. In December 22, 1989 he and his wife leaved the capital with a helicopter. They landed in Snagov and after that in Targoviste. Here they were captured and arrested by the police. In 1989's Christmas Day they were trialed, sentenced and executed.

Officially, Ceausescu and his wife don't have a tomb. Their corpses lie in Ghencea cemetery under the assumed names of two generals who had died at around the same time. Requests were made by their daughter and supporters of their political views to move them to mausoleums or churches built for the purpose of housing their remains, but such requests were denied by the Romanian state.

Quotes :

- "I only recognize the Grand National Assembly. I will only speak in front of it."
- "I will not sign anything."
- "As a citizen, as a simple citizen, I tell you the following: At no point was there such an upswing, so much construction, so much consolidation in the Romanian provinces. I guaranteed that every village has its schools, hospitals and doctors. I have done everything to create a decent and rich life for the people in the country, like in no other country in the world."